Dear All, How should a diallist see in 2006? After all, the new year starts at midnight when there is no sun (except in the Antarctic) and, this time, it is new moon too so those who like moon dials (always a disappointment in my experience) will also be out of luck.
Well, we do have a Leap Second to savour. This will be the first Leap Second since the end of 1998, and just might be the last, so we should enjoy it to the full. Accordingly, I present three suggestions for making the most of an event that lasts just one second: 1. Listen to the speaking clock on a telephone. 2. Tune into a broadcast seven-pip time signal. 3. Stare at a radio-controlled clock or watch. The first two can readily be recorded so you can play them back to your friends later. The third needs a camcorder. Don't forget that the Leap Second is just before midnight UTC. Those in most of Europe will have to wait until almost 01:00 and for those in the U.S. the event will take place in the afternoon or evening depending on time zone. In the U.K. the speaking clock has (or had) two machines, one set a second behind the other. The change-over is made manually just before you hear `At the third stroke...' heralding midnight UTC. If the technician doesn't get it spot on you hear `Ahhhhhht the third stroke...' instead. The BBC generally make a mess of the seven-pip time signal. I have heard a ghastly disc jockey talking all through it and, once, they gave us the Chimes of Big Ben at the same time. Staring at a radio-controlled clock is likely to be gravely disappointing and you may have to look at it for rather a long time. Clocks controlled by Rugby (U.K.) and Frankfurt (Germany) seem not to resynchronise until two or three hours after the event. Can anyone explain why? Enthusiasts will have noted that the coming Leap Second will (so the International Earth Rotation Service tell us) result in UTC changing from being ca 0.66s ahead of UT1 to being ca 0.33s behind. Users of heliochronometers should be able to detect the difference. If savouring the Leap Second is not to your taste you can always open a bottle of your favourite wine instead. Indeed, why not do both? Happy New Year Frank H. King Cambridge, U.K. -
